Fidelity Bank has introduced an export bonus account to help promote export trade in the country. This is in response to a call by President John Mahama to boost the consumption of made in Ghana goods in a bid to transform the economy to an export-driven one.

The head of Export Desk at the Corporate Banking Department of Fidelity Bank, Bright Evans Darko, said the motivation behind the product is to support government’s agenda to restructure Ghana’s economy to an export-led one.

“The product comes with some rewards. There are both technical and financial benefits attached to the product.

“With the financial rewards, customers who have export bonus accounts will not pay cost on turnover (COT). They will also get free cheque-books, free statement of accounts -- both hard copy and electronic; and Internet banking is also free”.

“Then we come to the forex, which is the dollars they sell to us. Aside from the normal board rates we give everybody, an exporter can gain up to a hundred pips; meaning one percent extra on all FX sales to the bank. So it becomes sort of an extra income for customers’ gain,” he said.

Mr. Darko further explained that customers with export bonus accounts will receive a lot of technical support from the bank, which include offering them advice on choosing the right financial package for their nature of business, and helping them to negotiate export contracts and secure funds.

“Sometimes we even speak with foreign organisations to assist our clients in securing a cheaper source of funds for the business. For example, let’s assume a large manufacturing sector firm wants to borrow an amount of US$10million. If it is getting the funds locally, Fidelity may charge 12% or 13%. But we can assist the exporter to get it from outside, which may come slightly cheaper than getting it locally. All this technical support and advice is done for free by Fidelity,” he added.

He said access loan facilities have been arranged for exporters who may need some financial assistance during their course of business.

“We have loan facilities to support them. We have working capital financing for exporters, we have invoice discounting or receivable financing under the product. All these come with the product. However, this is subject to the normal procedure of taking a loan from the bank.”